Kiev-based developer Frogwares has managed to work on new content for Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One despite the war.
The Ukraine-based game studios have enough other worries at the moment than worrying about additional content for their already released titles – or so one would think.
However, despite the adverse circumstances, Kiev-based developer Frogwares has managed to release a new DLC for their game Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One and get a Switch port of Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter off the ground.
Support from all over the industry: In the meantime, a large front of studios and corporations has formed that want to help the people in Ukraine with various actions.
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What to expect in the new DLC
The DLC called M for Mystery will be the final add-on content for Chapter One. In the context of a new, approximately two-hour story, Sherlock Holmes sets out on the trail of a cunning spy who has stolen highly confidential documents.
Of course, it’s not enough to ring the spy’s front doorbell and ask sweetly. Instead, the master detective must go head-to-head with the mysterious Person M to unravel a tangle of espionage and sabotage.
Owners of the Deluxe Edition or Season Pass will receive the DLC for free, but everyone else can of course purchase the new chapter separately.
How to work despite the war on your doorstep
But under what circumstances do you have to work at Frogwares at the moment? After all, the studio is located in Kiev, one of the central hotspots of the war. In a statement, CEO Wael Amr shed light on the team’s current situation:
The matter is simple, he says; now more than ever, the studio must be kept alive to the best of its ability. Nevertheless, no one from the team is expected to simply carry on as before. Only those who can and want to work should do so.
Some team members have also volunteered full-time to provide humanitarian services to their country, while others have even joined the defence forces. Wael Amr stresses that every job is preserved and waiting for those affected after the war ends.
The current work, i.e. the DLC as well as the Switch port, is mainly the result of the rest of the team working in other places inside or outside the country via a remote approach. Regardless of which of these routes is taken: Frogwares will continue to pay all employees their wages, according to the CEO. That should be quite a challenge, as the independent studio has no outside investors or other sources of funding.
Finances are also a hot topic elsewhere: more and more hardware manufacturers are stopping their business in Russia. Here, too, we have prepared an overview for you so that you can read about the decisions of the individual companies.
